Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Arnel Pineda Wows Oprah Anew

American rock band Journey, featuring Pinoy singer Arnel Pineda, guests for the second time around in the Oprah Winfrey Show to promote their latest album, "Revelation" and the new "Journey in Manila DVD."

The said episode was aired last October 5 in the United States.

After singing their hit song "Don't Stop Believing", the band members talked about their experience when they first heard Arnel in a YouTube video back in 2007.

Journey�s guitarist Neal Schon narrates that he found this video in YouTube featuring Arnel performing at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manila. Arnel was singing the Journey song "Faithfully" and he could not believe that such a small guy like Arnel could have an amazing vocal prowess.

Neal contacted his co-members Jonathan Cain (keyboard), Deen Castronovo (drums) and Ross Valory (bass) who were equally impressed with Arnel. He told them: "The guy got great pipes, does he speak English?"

Valory said he had GS or "goosebumps surplus" when he first heard Arnel sing.

Castronovo said: "It was frightening just to hear that voice come out from that little guy. We couldn�t believe it. It�s just so strong. And the best part about it was just how humble the man was, how humble human being, beautiful heart."

Oprah describes the discovery of Arnel "a divine order that show so boldly".

"I�m facing you [Winfrey] right now. You are [one of the] biggest [names] in show business and I�m facing you. It�s like� I�m not allowed to be here but I�m here. And I thank God for that," Arnel said.

"I�ve seen enough pain and poverty in the Philippines. I�ve never been that big. All I wanted was to be able to get out of it � the pain and the poverty � and live decently everyday," he added.

Because Arnel's success story inspired many people around the world, it was reported that his life story will be made into a biopic titled "Don�t Stop Believing: Every Man�s Journey."

Journey also performed "Faithfully", the song he was singing when he was discovered in YouTube, and Oprah together with her studio audience were all blown away.